‘Let patience have its perfect work…’ James 1:4 NKJV
Have you been asking God, ‘Why do I have to wait so long?’ If so, here are four important things you need to know: (1) Waiting trains you. Time spent waiting can be time spent learning. And if you’re learning, you’re not losing. God will train you for battle because He’s a good general. ‘Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.’ (Psalm 144:1 NIV) (2) Waiting corrects you. The Psalmist wrote: ‘Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your Word.’ (Psalm 119:67 NKJV) Pain can be profitable. Trouble can lead to spiritual advancement if you’re willing to learn from it. Pain forces you to look to God for answers, to lean on Him instead of others, to learn where you went wrong, to hunger for His presence and His healing touch, to listen for His instructions and be sensitive to the changes He wants to bring about in your life. Yes, you can turn your pain into progress. (3) Waiting reveals those around you. Motives are not easily discerned. Trust God but test people. That’s Scriptural. ‘…the Lord your God led you… forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart…’ (Deuteronomy 8:2 NIV) People can keep their intentions and motives covered for a long time, but waiting generally forces the truth to the surface. (4) Waiting gives God time to solve the problem. He’s a miracle-working God, so don’t get ahead of Him and rob Him of the opportunity to demonstrate His power in your life.
SoulFood: Ecc 11:7–12:1, Ps 39:4–13, 2 Tim 4:6–8
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright ©